Versions of Weiss
by Verathaine
Summary: An AU version of what happened after Esset fell. Weiss and Schwartz have to live together, funnies and frustration ensues. Also contains fleshed out, twisty, back stories for Yohji, Aya, Schuldig and Crawford. Potential light MM if you want it with flexible pairings, just suggest.
1. Pour Me A Vacation

**WARNINGS: Potential M/M (this****_ is_**** Weiss Kreuz)! Probable swearing (they ****_are_**** assassins). Schwartz (they deserve a warning in their own right). Expanded back stories (for Aya, Yohji, Schuldig and Crawford).**

**Also my updates may be irregular, this is a side project and has the potential to be very long. **

**Do I even need to say that the characters aren't mine? This is FANfiction after all. ;)**

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******Chapter One: Pour Me A Vacation, I Need To Leave Here Right Away.**

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After the fall of Esset the Rosenkreuz Institute went into deeper hiding, cutting ties with many of its old students, most of whom were more than happy with the situation, which came as no surprise to those interested parties reviewing the whole thing. The institute shut its doors to all new recruits until early 2012, when the increase in psi-related incidents in the outside world had reached an all time high. The world seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when they finally opened their doors again, though, of course, not many 'normal' people knew why petty crimes and murder had become such a problem.

Brad Crawford, no longer a lackey for Esset or Rosenkreuz now had the free reign he had pursued so relentlessly, earning Schwartz a brief holiday tour of the world. Schuldig being Schuldig and very annoying complicated things; Nagi much preferred work to playing and towing an occasionally rabid Farfarello around wasn't the best thing for anyone's sanity. Thus, after a few months of beaches and boredom Schwartz found themselves trekking back to Japan, tanned, radiant in their success and completely out of Brad's control for the first time in team history.

"Green hair dye!" Schuldig was shouting from one of the airport's many shops, a half empty Starbucks cup in one hand and a box of dye in the other. "They have green hair dye, who actually buys this stuff?"

Nagi rolled his eyes and used his telekinesis to drag Schuldig out of the shop. He ignored his team-mates protests and lengthened his stride to catch up with Brad.

Crawford, ignoring the both of them was scanning the crowd with a faint frown on his face, his legs carrying him across the packed airport without much thought, he had one arm on Farfarello's, guiding him through the throng, wary of the 'Berserkers' volatile nature. Farfarello was leaning very subtly against his leaders' side, restraining his nature, Schuldig was usually given the task of monitoring him, dulling his mind if need be, but Brad had Seen the outcome of pairing them together while Schuldig was hyped up on caffeine and had sacrificed his own time instead.

"Brady," Schuldig sung as he jogged up behind him, slinging a familiar arm around his shoulders, "look what I found." He shoved the green hair dye into his leaders' face as Brad tried to shrug him off. "It's green! Can I dye my hair green? Do you think I could do that? Maybe half green, half orange?" He laughed as he caught the pained reaction of the other three. "I'm soo going half, half." He said, sashaying away from his team-mates and using his long legs to get ahead.

"I see an exit sign!"

"Remind never to let you drink coffee again," Brad said in a worn voice, expressing his entire team's sentiments for them.

Schuldig shot him a too-wide grin saying: "you should have seen this coming, mein Kapitän." Then he _bounced_ ahead to follow the signs. Bringing them - finally - into the cool Japan air. For a while he settled down, Schuldig always tended to get a little tense after flights, long periods of sitting down and behaving himself made him temperamental and often a whole lot louder, it was one of the drawbacks of being both a telepath and someone so used to moving.

Schuldig never stood still, when he sat he sat tapping out a rhythm on his leg, or humming while simultaneously practising his many facial expressions (this was something the rest of Schwartz had just had to get used to after Brad's ineffectual attempts to rid Schuldig of the habit). He didn't like being bored and there were only so many games he could play on his phone before his mind drifted and he became bored again. It was part of the reason Schwartz could not settle down and enjoy their holidaying, a bored Schuldig was an annoying, in your face, Schuldig, he needed to be working and working hard.

Nagi didn't mind either way, but then he was much more interested in reading than running into the ocean and seeing how many times he could dupe the lifeguard into saving him before 'that shit got old'. Sadly enough Farfarello had started to copy Schuldig after the first two times and Brad hadn't cared enough about the outcome to stop them, the poor lifeguard must have had a rough day.

Farfarello too needed lots of mental and physical stimulation, though he could be almost normal most of the time he tended to get tense and jumpy when left to his own devices for too long.

When Brad had asked Nagi if cutting their tour of the world short bothered him he had shrugged and said, "I can read, blog and chat online from anywhere with internet access, Crawford," with his usual apathetic politeness.

Brad hailed a taxi as soon as they reached the taxi bay and they piled their few trunks into the enlarged airport-taxi boot. Schuldig complained, in an obnoxiously loud voice, about the size of the car (which would mean three of them snuggling together in the back seats) while Crawford gave the driver the address of their new flat.

Nagi, still the shortest despite his latest growth spurt, immediately leapt into the middle seat. Farfarello climbed in beside him and Brad the other side, leaving the driver to deal with Schuldig, who had loudly declared shotgun.

As soon as the taxi pulled off Nagi snuck a look at Brad, who gave him a small nod, he then pressed the soundproofing switch and sighed in relief.

"I have a headache," he complained quietly, "if I have to share a room with him again I will slam you into the nearest door frame." He didn't often make such threats, but his patience had been worn thin over the past few weeks and now he looked at Crawford with a look that betrayed no qualms about carrying such a feat out.

"Duly noted. No one will be sharing rooms." Brad flicked his eyes to the side, preferring to watch the streets fly by rather than continue the conversation, probably because his own head aching just as badly, a Schuldig on sugar and caffeine was a Schuldig that _everyone_ wanted to murder.

The rest of the ride passed in silence, at least for the passengers of the back seat. The driver, having Schuldig as a companion, wasn't so lucky, but he was more than happy with Brad's generous tip and waved them off into their new house with a grin on his face.

Schuldig was first up the stairs, but the security door stopped him in his tracks. Luckily for everyone Brad was right behind him. He punched the number into the dial pad and waited for someone to answer.

"Hello?" The tinny voice of a middle aged man answered.

"Hello. This is Mr. Wasabi." Crawford pushed Schuldig back from the box before he started sniggering at the name.

"Ah, the new tenant. If you could just recite your security code to me I'll let you in, then you can come over to room 1B on the first floor and we'll get the last of the paperwork out of the way."

Crawford fired off a string of numbers without even pausing for breath, which obviously impressed their new landlord as he whistled and let them in sharp-ish.

They filed in eagerly, or Schuldig did and the rest followed at a more subdued pace. They made their way over to the mentioned room and knocked. Crawford motioned for them to stay outside and they leaned against the wall, tired from their travels, except Schuldig who stood in the middle of the hall and bounced on the balls of his feet. Nagi gave up his position after five minutes had passed and instead perched on the edge of his suitcase, getting his phone out and doing something with it. Farfarello closed his good eye and refrained from finding one of his knives to play with. Schuldig paced. Then sat down. Then tried to strike up a conversation. Then started to play around with their new landlords head.

Soon after that Brad came out, shook his head at Schuldig and jangled two sets of keys at them.

Two.

Nagi exchanged looks with Farfarello, before they both eyed Schuldig.

"We aren't going to be staying here long," was Brad's feeble attempt at peace. He then chucked the second set of keys at Nagi, who caught them with his telekinesis just in case Schuldig made a lunge for them.

The rest of the way to their flat was spent with Schuldig bitching in their ears.

Nagi wished that he would come down off his sugar high soon, though he would be a whole other kind of nuisance when he did so.


	2. Don't Think You're Safe

**A/N: I was going to make this chapter a lot longer, hence the long wait (I wrote this on the same day I wrote the first chapter), but I decided to keep them shortish for now. :) **

**Feel free to give me a critique. I don't get offended so do your worst, I give you permission to nit-pick! ;)**

**Notes on the AUness: Persia and Manx are still alive.**

**Chapter Title: Don't Think You're Safe 'Cause It's Not Over**

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Omi was in the kitchen making pancakes, as per the usual Sunday morning routine, when he got the call. He hummed a tune as he turned off the cooker and took the pan off the residual heat, his movements fluid and not rushed. He had filled out in the sixteen months since Essets fall, making him look more his age, but he could still pass for much younger if he needed to, much to his disgust. Though his 'talent' was a huge boon to Kritiker and so Weiss was still one of their best teams.

He turned his eyes to the phone as Aya walked into the kitchen. Omi felt the prickle of Aya's eyes on his back as he was sent his customary good morning glare, he picked up the phone and put it to his ear, turning to smile at Aya before he said "hello," into the line.

"Bombay."

The smile fell off his face, they had been getting mission after mission for the past few months and they were all tired and short tempered. He had hoped that finishing school would give him more time, but in reality the missions just upped in intensity and number. He wanted to sigh, but he was the team leader, he had to stay strong.

"Manx," he said in complete mission tone. "Should we expect you later?"

"Yes." She hesitated and Omi frowned, Manx never hesitated over anything.

"What is it?" He asked, exchanging a glance with Aya, who was listening in on the conversation while making himself a cup of tea.

"This… this mission is slightly different from your normal fare. You aren't really qualified for it, but Persia and I have agreed-"

"What is the mission, Manx?" Omi asked firmly, cutting her off, which is something he wouldn't have done a year ago. He had grown into his role as the leader of Weiss, no longer the same cute, charming boy. No one mistook Aya for their leader any more.

He heard Manx sigh on the other end of the line. "It's a new team. Or, it may be a new team, we aren't sure if we can trust them. I know it isn't what you're trained for, but the situations is a bit. Um." She stalled for time. Aya pulled a chair out for himself, metal feet making a harsh noise against the tiles, Omi scrunched his face up at him. "The reason we chose your team," she hesitated again and Omi felt like screaming at her to hurry up and spit it out. "I'm bringing them along later, you'll understand when you see them." This many nerves from Manx didn't bode well.

"Who is the team?" Omi asked, his curiosity peeked.

When Manx didn't answer he growled out "I will get Aya on this phone," making his teammate look up from his quiet contemplation of his tea.

"It's Schwartz." Then she hung up.

Omi let out a long list of expletives, making Aya narrow his eyes at him and hide his face behind his cup, possibly smirking at him, though that wasn't like Aya at all.

"Get Yohji up, we aren't opening the flower shop today."

Aya raised an eyebrow at him, possibly because getting Yohji up when he did have to work was hard enough, but when he didn't? Impossible, for anyone except Aya, that was. He left the kitchen in silence, leaving his steaming tea cup behind. That was Aya: no questions asked unless they needed asking, Omi felt both irritated and relived, he'd rather only have to say this once.

He eyed the mess in the pan and turned the cooker back on. As he waited for it to warm up he glanced at the calendar, just to check that it wasn't April the first. It wasn't. He let out a few more choice expletives and went back to his morning cooking.

Soon the pancakes were all cooked and the table was set for Sunday breakfast. Omi smiled at his arrangement and placed a pancake on his plate. His teammates arrived one by one, in various states of dress. First came Ken, sent down from their new training room with a towel slung over his shoulders and a mostly empty bottle of water in his hand. He grinned at Omi and settled down in his usual seat, falling on the pancakes like he hadn't eaten in a week.

Next came Aya, silent still. He sat in his place and continued his cup of tea, though it must have been lukewarm by now. Aya didn't waste anything if he could help it.

Eventually Yohji came sauntering in, hair still wet from a quick shower and drawstring trousers dipping low over his hips. He gave a lazy "good morning all," and sat down in the leftover chair, the one that normally stayed empty during Sunday breakfast.

"So what's up Chibi?" As expected Yohji, with his incessant curiosity, was the first person to speak. Ken was too busy eating, though he looked up at Omi when Yohji spoke, and Aya was too busy being silent and thoughtful. Or just silent.

Omi scratched his nose as he tried to think of a way to word the news that wouldn't create panic.

"Manx is coming around later with a new mission," he started. He held up a hand to silence Yohji, who had opened his mouth to speak. "I know we don't usually get any information until she's here, but she gave me a heads up on this one." He took a deep breathe and glanced at Aya, who was studying the pattern of their floral tablecloth and not being any help at all. Not that he knew, Omi realised belatedly.

"We are checking a team to see if we can trust them."

"What?" Ken asked around a mouthful of pancake. He swallowed and chugged down some water. "We don't do that, Kritiker proper takes cares of it. Hell, I was just trained and put on a team."

Yohji looked thoughtful. "Who's the team? Anyone we know?"

He looked entirely too calm about this and Omi frowned at him. "Do you know anything?"

Yohji blinked at him, confused and Omi felt stupid. Of course Yohji would assume they knew the team. New members in Kritiker joined one by one, not on a team basis and they were trained and put straight on duty, not evaluated by a current team.

"Yes, we know the team."

"All of them?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"All of them." _Except if they've changed members since we last met_. Omi added to himself.

"Will they be a Tokyo team?" Aya asked, now studying Omi's face and not the tablecloth.

Omi squirmed under all the scrutiny. "I don't know, but I hope so." Then his face fell as he realised what he had just said. He had hoped that Schwartz would be another Tokyo team.

"Omi?" That was Ken.

"So, these people we know. Do they have potential? Do you think they have what it takes to kill the 'dark beasts' and lowlifes? Do we have to train them as well?" The barrage of questions were fired at Omi one after the other and he wondered what it would have been like to have known Yohji in his P.I. days. Then he wondered if the others even knew what Yohji previous job had been, the answer was probably no.

"It depends what you mean by potential, but yes they can kill and no I don't think we need to train them, at least not with the physical stuff."

Yohji pushed his glasses up and down his nose as he thought. "The only people I can think of are-"

"Schwartz!" Ken piped up, "oh my God it's Schwartz!" Ken surprised Omi with his revelations sometimes.

Aya jumped up, making the table shudder and turned, growling, towards Omi. Yohji was immediately in his way, an amused look the only thing on his face as he discouraged Aya from disembowelling Omi with his bare hands. Ken just looked shocked.

"This is a normal mission? Meaning we can turn it down if we want to?" Yohji asked.

Omi sighed. "I don't know Yohji, I think we may be ordered to do it. It might not take long though, they'll have a hard job of convincing us to trust them."

"Unless Mastermind messes with our heads," Ken grumbled, stabbing a pancake.

Yohji looked thoughtful again and Omi waited for him to ask another question.

"I doubt he will. They seem to be approaching this seriously, if not conventionally." He paused, Omi could practically see the cogs turning in his head. "The Oracle will have him under control. It's Farfarello I'm worried about, I'm not sure how they plan to control him on missions where the more survivors there are the better."

"You're okay with this?" Ken asked, an incredulous expression on his face.

"Not so much okay as interested." He looked around at the disbelieving faces. "Don't you ever get bored with normal missions?"

"I don't tend to get bored when I'm fighting for my life," Ken told him sarcastically.

"I think it's a bad idea." Aya said, tone flat.

"I agree with that at least. I don't think Schwartz will be cut out for Kritiker work." Yohji said, "but I expect they'll find that out and go back to being our nemeses. At least this way we'll get to learn more about them."

"I fail to see how that appeals." Ken said, disgust plain on his face.

"It means," Omi piped up, "that we will stand a better chance of fighting them. We'll get to know their weaknesses-"

"Their weird psycho abilities, their favourite television shows, their allergies, if they have any…" Yohji went on.

"Favourite T.V. shows?" Ken said, confused as to why that was important.

Yohji shrugged. "I'm up for it."

Omi nodded. "You've changed my mind," he said, "I thought it was a bad idea until I thought of how much we can learn. I think that's probably why they picked our team." He stared pointedly at Yohji as he said it, who smiled at him in a sheepish fashion. He knew that he would become the mediator and Yohji would be the interrogator, the others might just find out some more about their oldest teammate in the coming weeks.

"I think they picked our team because we fought them and we aren't likely to be won over by their lies." Ken said, not noticing the look, or seeing it and not understanding it. "I don't like it."

Aya relaxed his posture, "I'm in," he said, as if Ken's disapproval made it a good idea. "We need to be prepared if we have to fight them again."

Yohji smiled, Omi nodded, Ken groaned.

"Okay, but if they murder us I'll come back as a ghost and murder you all again." Ken said.

Omi neglected to point out his failed logic.

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**A/N: After the mistakes I fixed in the last chapter I have decided to advertise that I'm looking for a beta reader. If anyone knows a good one, or is one themselves, feel free to contact me. I have a bad habit of not proofreading things before I post them. *slaps self* **

**Have this non-proofread chapter. (Oops?)**

**I have solid ideas for the past/flashback material, but please tell me anything you'd love to see, it may inspire me even more. :)**


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